10 US Cities Where Home Prices Are Surging But Wages Are Going Nowhere

Thursday

Jul 10, 2014 at 4:26 PM

Mamta Badkar

Many Americans hope to earn and save enough money to afford a home.

However in certain parts of the country, home prices are booming while wages are barely inching up and in some instances are contracting.

"Average wages per worker rose less than 1% in 2013 in all but one of the 10 metros with the largest price increases," writes Jed Kolko at Trulia. "Nationally, asking prices (year-over-year in June 2014) rose faster than wages per worker (year-over-year in 2013) in 95 of the 100 largest metros."

Interestingly the biggest home price gains are no longer in the west, but in the South and Midwest.

Note: Wage data is derived from the BLS' quarterly census of employment and wages (QCEW).

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